Apple Granted Patent on Methods for Dimming Screens Based on Content Needs

[MacRumors]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today officially granted Apple a patent (via AppleInsider) describing methods for automatically adjusting screen brightness to suit the content being displayed. The patent, which was originally filed for in mid-2006 and can actually be traced back to a separate 2002 application, addresses techniques for saving battery life on portable devices.

The improved techniques reduce power consumption by lowering display intensity at appropriate times. In one embodiment, the display intensity can be controlled depending on the type of content being displayed. For example, when displaying certain types of content, the display intensity can be lowered from its otherwise high, constant intensity level. In another embodiment, the display intensity can be controlled depending on the characteristics of the content being displayed. For example, when displaying images that are light, the display intensity can be lowered from its otherwise high, constant intensity level. In still another embodiment, the display intensity can be controlled depending on the type and characteristics of content being displayed.

Apple's battery-powered devices have long had the capability to automatically dim displays based on such criteria as power source (battery vs. wall power), ambient light levels and usage (dimming the display of a device that hasn't been used for a particular time interval). Dimming the screen based on content, such as when a particularly bright image is displayed, requires a more sophisticated approach, something that Apple has clearly been working on for some time.

Apple actually now uses a variation on this invention for its Passbook application in iOS 6 for the iPhone, automatically boosting the display's brightness to maximum when the app is launched in order to make it easier for scanners to read the 2D barcodes used on passes within the app.

The patent suggests that Apple's plans for content-sensitive automatic brightness adjustment could even extend as far as frame-by-frame or scene-by-scene adjustments when viewing videos, with users also being able to configure their own preferences for content-based brightness.

Article Link: Apple Granted Patent on Methods for Dimming Screens Based on Content Needs

[skitzogreg]

Alt+tab strobe light.

[turtlez]

And this is why Apple is still regarded as the best. Instead of focusing 100% on specs they focus on smaller things that create a much more solid experience and speed up performance. e.g. dual core iP5 out benchmarking quad core S3

[nepalisherpa]

Originally Posted by turtlez

And this is why Apple is still regarded as the best. Instead of focusing 100% on specs they focus on smaller things that create a much more solid experience and speed up performance. e.g. dual core iP5 out benchmarking quad core S3

Have you even read about features for other phones out there? I like Apple as well but I wouldn't call them the best!

[kockgunner]

Although this seems like a simple thing to patent, imagine if Apple didn't patent it and everyone just started copying it? Then there would be no more innovation from other companies to create other battery saving methods with software or hardware? We always see these things as trivial but if everyone used the same methods and implementations, what differentiates one company's products from another's? Apple's R&D department might was well be Samsung or Google's.

[KALLT]

Originally Posted by kockgunner

Although this seems like a simple thing to patent, imagine if Apple didn't patent it and everyone just started copying it? Then there would be no more innovation from other companies to create other battery saving methods with software or hardware? We always see these things as trivial but if everyone used the same methods and implementations, what differentiates one company's products from another's? Apple's R&D department might was well be Samsung or Google's.

That's why we have competition. Businesses need to distinguish themselves to attract customers, low costs and innovation being important factors to that end. I'm sure that many of these 'innovations' would find their way into the product at some point, regardless of whether the competition copies it. I agree that important technological inventions must be protected to some extent, but if you lower the bar to seemingly obvious ideas, you create an artificial monopoly that cannot be good for business in general. This patent here is not even an invention, it is creative and functional at best. It just strikes me that such petty ideas can be patented in the US. No wonder that businesses have gone crazy with infringement actions.

[inkswamp]

OH MY GOD! APPLE JUST PATENTED DIMMING THE SCREEN!

Sorry for that everyone. Just wanted to get the unnecessary panic out of the way. Resume your regular discussions.

[jamestada]

My flat screen already has this... its called movie and sports mode. should go sue them now.

[bushido]

Originally Posted by turtlez

And this is why Apple is still regarded as the best. Instead of focusing 100% on specs they focus on smaller things that create a much more solid experience and speed up performance. e.g. dual core iP5 out benchmarking quad core S3

i love my iPhone 5 but i wouldnt call it the best software anymore. its lacking some neat little basic features or something "fresh" and innovative besides another row of icons

some 3rd party apps start to look better than apples inconsistent UI nowadays. its all over the place. some things r suddenly white, others still dark, yet other things r full of colors.

theres always hope for iOS7 or finally a iOS6 jb tho

[canucksfan88]

no wonder i almost blinded myself when i accidentally hit passbook at night

the app has since been exiled to the last page

[willcapellaro]

Originally Posted by canucksfan88

no wonder i almost blinded myself when i accidentally hit passbook at night

the app has since been exiled to the last page

I discovered this today while at the airport and was pleasantly surprised. Passbook needs to be bright for the QR codes -- I generally have my phone at a usable but low brightness but when I travel I crank it all the way down to save juice. This saves a huge bother of passbook not working for its intended use.

[turtlez]

Originally Posted by bushido

i love my iPhone 5 but i wouldnt call it the best software anymore. its lacking some neat little basic features or something "fresh" and innovative besides another row of icons

theres always hope for iOS7 or finally a iOS6 jb tho

I agree with you here and I am sure iOS7 will fix all that. My main argument was Apple products in general, computers and phones/pods/pads. They focus on an area no other computer tech company does and that is subtleties in design both physical and in software.

[RetepNamenots]

Originally Posted by turtlez

And this is why Apple is still regarded as the best. Instead of focusing 100% on specs they focus on smaller things that create a much more solid experience and speed up performance. e.g. dual core iP5 out benchmarking quad core S3

The stock Android clock has had this feature for a few years.

But sure, now a patent has been published in Apple's name, they're the innovative ones...

[komodrone]

iChat with mom -> dim screen to 0%
porn -> 100% brightness.

[Codyak]

Windows on laptops does something kinda similar to this, if the content on the screen is a certain color, it changes brightness.

[turtlez]

Originally Posted by RetepNamenots

The stock Android clock has had this feature for a few years.

But sure, now a patent has been published in Apple's name, they're the innovative ones...

i wasn't talking about patents. Just saying that Apple focus on small things that lead to big things.

[winston1236]

Originally Posted by turtlez

i wasn't talking about patents. Just saying that Apple focus on small things that lead to big things.

What big things?

[AppleLover12345]

Originally Posted by thasan

Looks like android devices are so boring that droidtrolls come here to entertain themselves....
Not an exciting and flashy innovation anyway but it has quite a lot of implications. I'm sure Samsung and Nokia have inventions like this but not many people cares cause only few like the companies if its google, u would see a lot of praise and I will be among them.

Where are the "droidtrolls" you speak of?
Also, no Samsung or Nokia fanatic praises them for making insignificant "inventions" like that patent because Samsung and Nokia make REAL technology.
Also, I'd have to argue against your assertion that only a few people like Samsung. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean only a fringe minority does. Hell, Samsung Galaxy S3 is outselling the iPhone 5 in your own country.

----------

Originally Posted by blackhand1001

Umm this isn't an apple innovation at all. This has been around for years. Its called dynamic contrast.

Isn't it SO annoying that Apple fanatics keep trying to claim something other people invented?

[swagi]

Originally Posted by thasan

Looks like android devices are so boring that droidtrolls come here to entertain themselves....
Not an exciting and flashy innovation anyway but it has quite a lot of implications. I'm sure Samsung and Nokia have inventions like this but not many people cares cause only few like the companies if its google, u would see a lot of praise and I will be among them.

Oddly this feature is implemented on every STOCK Galaxy S3. Want to disable it?

Go to Settings -> Display
scroll all the way down
"Auto adjust screen tone"

And actually this feature isn't innovative at all as several others have mentioned here. And considering Apple in this scenario...

...I may consider buying an Apple branded phone again when they stop this anorexia design. I don't give a damn about 4mm more thickness if that gives me more battery.

Maybe Ive should rethink about that device. It is supposed to be portable! My Galaxy S3 at least lasts 2days with typical usage.

Or is the iPhone population so hipster that they instantly plug their phones in a s soon as they are home?

[sc4rf4c3]

Originally Posted by turtlez

i wasn't talking about patents. Just saying that Apple focus on small things that lead to big things.

Yeah what big things?

[turtlez]

Originally Posted by sc4rf4c3

Yeah what big things?

really? lol

----------

Originally Posted by sc4rf4c3

Yeah what big things?

since you're the 2nd person asking I better just answer obvious stuff.

-They changed the music industry with their iPod
-They changed the computer industry with their iPad (not to mention competitors were laughing at the idea of the iPad when it first released saying it would never sell and it was just an oversized iPod)
-Everyone copies Apple design from tiny chinese companies to huge korean ones. Obviously they must have done something pretty epic in that department right?
-They push technology to improve faster, first to adopt stuff and market the heck out of it.
-Apple created a lifestyle with seemless integration between a lot of electronic consumer products, which had not existed before.
-Probably one of the biggest ones. They are so far ahead of 2nd place on the stock market in such a short amount of time.

----------

Originally Posted by Timzer

Wow, you really gotta get out more.
Ever heard of Smart Stay, Smart Alarm, Direct Call, etc..?
BTW, these are features that already exist on an eight month old phone, the Galaxy S3. Yeah, unlike Apple, Samsung has focused on the little things too, but without ignoring specs.

I use voice on my S3 to call someone, 9/10 times it calls the wrong person. I use voice on my brother's iPhone 5 and never failed yet. You can make small things all you want but half assing them vs getting them right is another thing.

edit: yeah! i have the s3 and i know it is not as good in looks, feel and performance than my brothers iPhone5. choppy animations anyone?

[inkswamp]

Originally Posted by RetepNamenots

The stock Android clock has had this feature for a few years.

But sure, now a patent has been published in Apple's name, they're the innovative ones...

One app versus a system-wide implementation. Patents are not about new ideas per se, but new and unique uses or implementations of ideas, existing or otherwise. If Apple has a new and sufficiently novel implementation of dimming to be implemented system-wide on a smart phone that they feel is cool enough to be protected from copying by competitors, then they should get a patent for it. It doesn't mean they came up with the idea of this kind of dimming. Nobody is saying that. That's a strawman argument.

[Timzer]

Originally Posted by turtlez

And this is why Apple is still regarded as the best. Instead of focusing 100% on specs they focus on smaller things that create a much more solid experience and speed up performance. e.g. dual core iP5 out benchmarking quad core S3

Wow, you really gotta get out more.
Ever heard of Smart Stay, Smart Alarm, Direct Call, etc..?
BTW, these are features that already exist on an eight month old phone, the Galaxy S3. Yeah, unlike Apple, Samsung has focused on the little things too, but without ignoring specs.

[NT1440]

Originally Posted by Timzer

Wow, you really gotta get out more.
Every heard of Smart Stay, Smart Alarm, Direct Call, etc..
BTW, these are features that already exist on an eight month old phone, the Galaxy S3. Yeah, unlike Apple, Samsung has focused on the little things too, but without ignoring specs.

They can't ignore them, iOS is so optimized that it gets the same performance as Android phones with (roughly) twice the hardware.

[Timzer]

Originally Posted by NT1440

They can't ignore them, iOS is so optimized that it gets the same performance as Android phones with (roughly) twice the hardware.

Let me introduce you to join this thread.